Wrote a wonderful script with a friend, the movie went straight to Oscar, ‘Harry Potter’ was rejected

New Delhi: The film ‘Salaam Bombay’, released in 1988, was a success not only in India but also abroad. This was the second Indian film after ‘Mother India’, which was nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars. This film was made by filmmaker Mira Nair. His film ‘Salaam Bombay’ not only entered the Oscars, it also received the National Award for Hindi Film.

Filmmaker Mira Nair was born on 15 October 1957 in Rourkela, Odisha. She belongs to an affluent family and her father Amrit Lal Nair was an Indian Administrative Service officer. Mira Nair’s early education took place in Bhubaneswar. However, later she went to Shimla for further studies. During this time, he studied sociology from Miranda House of Delhi University. When she was 19, she received a scholarship to Cambridge University, but she turned it down and decided to go to Harvard University instead.

Started career as an actress
Mira Nair started her film career as an actress. He later decided to become a film producer. Meera made a short film named ‘Jama Masjid Street Journal’, which was based on the exploration of Old Delhi. After this, he made many other short films, which were highly appreciated at the international level.

(Photo courtesy: IANS)

‘Salaam Bombay’ nominated for Oscar
Meanwhile, Meera wrote the script of ‘Salaam Bombay’ with her friend Sooni Taraporewala. The film ‘Salaam Bombay’, released in the year 1988, is based on the children living in the slums of India’s largest city Bombay (Mumbai). Although this film could not do much in terms of earnings, the acting of its actors was highly praised. The film won the ‘Camera d’Or’ Audience Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1989.

Rejected ‘Harry Potter’ for ‘The Namesake’
Mira Nair made films like ‘Mississippi Masala’, ‘The Perez Family’, ‘Kama Sutra: A Story of Love’ and ‘Monsoon Wedding’. In the year 2007, Mira Nair got an offer to direct ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’. However, he rejected this offer for ‘The Namesake’. Meera also remained in the news regarding her personal life. She was first married to Mitch Epstein, but this marriage did not last long and they got divorced. Apart from this, she married secondly to Indo-Ugandan scientist Mahmood Mamdani. Both of them also have a son.

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